The Lesser You Breathe
by Beckon
Summary: Tanya pressed her lips against Mileena's blood-spattered shoulder- kissing at more of the desperate claw marks that had come from the dead. She could almost hear them screaming still; voices pitched and pleading underneath the sharp claws of the Empress. "And Outworld will finally, and officially, be ours."


**A/N: Contains cannibalism.**

* * *

The heart was still beating when it became crushed underneath lips and teeth.

It bled out red, spilling like a squeezed grapefruit down her chin.

Slick and thick as it rushed into her mouth, and coated her tongue- drinking down sweet in her throat.

There was more thickness to it than she remembered, forcing her fingers and nails to puncture the bloodied membrane as she pulled the bitten mass from her lips. Strings of tissue and cartilage, a life lost, strung between her teeth- clenched tight to the bite that still resided in her mouth.

Tanya made a show of using her tongue to savor the piece, rolling the tissue around in her mouth, before she chewed down on it.

Red droplets spilled off of her coated lips, dripping thick and fat off of her chin and to the ground below.

Spilling back into the empty cavity it had originated from.

Despite being mutilated from a small taste, the organ remained warm and continued to pulsate in her hand- fueled on by her own actions. Fingers squeezed the tender heart in her palm, watching as it falsely pumped life in her grasp, watching as blood still spurting out of the ripped aorta.

It tasted sweet.

Stickily and powerful in her hand.

"Are you done, Dearest?"

Tanya mused the question over, before she got to her feet- one hand moving to brush against the underside of her chin, wiping off the remaining droplets of blood. She continued to chew, finishing off what little remained before she swallow it down; it was slick and almost slimy in her throat, but it went down smooth and easy.

Her eyes moved towards the voice that had spoken, and she let them settle over the woman who stood a few feet from her.

The Empress was drenched in blood, and covered in scratches from the desperately dying- from the desperately slaughtered.

She was wounded on the arms, but death thickly coated her fingers and hands, which had torn easily into the bellies of her enemies. Nails like claws had ripped them open from the middle, pulled them in half and spilled them across the ground- all while their hands gripped at her, shook at her, desperately trying to stop her.

All to no avail.

Death filled her stomach, much like it filled the bellies of her army- still hungry and devouring the dead around them.

Tanya offered a sly smile and dropped the partly-eaten heart back into the chest it had been pulled from. "I don't know how you do it, Empress," she spoke, as one hand moved to run through her hair, pushing it back from her face; her own blood-soaked fingers coated her silk strands in a mess of tissue and membrane. "Osh-Tekk just doesn't suit my palette."

Mileena offered a bloodied grin as lips pulled back to reveal her additional row of teeth- sharpened on the bones of the dead. "It is an acquired taste," she answered. "You would know if you ate anything than just the hearts- much like the Osh-Tekk themselves."

"They only _drink_ from the heart," Tanya corrected, much to the woman's amusement. "Besides, nothing else compares to it. And you know I don't like the way the rest strings between my teeth."

The woman chuckled briefly, low and powerful in her throat, before she walked over towards her- nearly having to high-step over the layers of bodies that had piled up all around them. Her hands reached forward and grabbed Tanya by the jaw, smearing it with thick, bloodied mucus, before she pulled her forward- clashing bloody lips and bloodied grins together.

Clashing different palettes and tastes- mixing the sweetness of the heart, with the saltiness of the liver and the stomach.

Tanya grinned, feeling and tasting Mileena's powerful tongue in her mouth- feeling the way it swept across her, drinking up the loose blood that still remained. The kiss burned like copper between them, dropping like metal bars into her stomach as the scent of carnage was near overwhelming. The smell still made her shiver, but not out of nausea, or disturbance any more- but simply because she knew how it made the army tick.

Fill the belly of a Tarkatan with blood and fresh meat, and they turn; they ache and crave a different sort of fight.

Like the one she knew was brewing inside of the Empress, who tugged on her lower lip before releasing her.

"Such perfect teeth," Mileena quietly mused, lips toying against her own- the tip of her tongue teasing her. "Ill-fitted for Outworld delicacies."

"Edenians adapt to any environment they find themselves in," Tanya replied, turning her head enough to press her lips to the corner of Mileena's- but pulling away before the woman could catch her. "Are we through here?"

"Quite thoroughly," the Empress nodded, as she glanced back to her still feasting army- taking in the chorus of bones breaking between teeth. "They will finish off the rest of the bodies, but there is no need for us to linger here. We should head home and reconfigure our plans; we have much still that we need to do- that we need to plan. We have the Osh-Tekk where we want them- cornered, and fearing for their lost brethren. They will fight like caged animals when we descend upon them again- but it will not take us long to claim the rest of their army."

Such power in her words.

A thickness in her voice that growled and purred its way up from her throat.

"And when the time comes... we shall drink from the heart that keeps the Osh-Tekk going," Tanya whispered, before she dipped down and pressed her lips against Mileena's blood-spattered shoulder- kissing at more of the desperate claw marks that had come from the dead. She could almost hear them screaming still; voices pitched and pleading underneath the sharp claws of the Empress. "And Outworld will finally, and officially, be ours."

"Let us depart then, Dearest."


End file.
